If you want branded gifts in hands before the holidays, circle Friday, November 20: it is the last day to order custom can coolers at standard speed for delivery by Friday, December 18, and express production moves it to Friday, November 27. Can coolers print from the design you confirm online and deliver in 3–4 weeks. Custom hats take longer: a mockup, a sample and then 6–10 weeks of production after sample confirmation, so their standard window for December 18 closed on September 25. Everything below works back from that December 18 target.
Why can coolers and hats make the shortlist
The gifts that survive January are the ones people actually use. A can cooler lives in a truck console, a cooler bag or a desk drawer and comes out at every tailgate, lake day and backyard cookout for years. Your logo goes with it, and it costs less than a greeting card. A hat is the higher-ticket version of the same idea: crews and clients wear the ones that fit well and look like something they'd have bought, which is why every one of our 7 numbered styles is photographed from several angles on its product page, so you can judge the shape before you order.
Both are ordered online at published per-unit prices, both take a single logo well, and both ship from Austin, TX to anywhere in the US.
The holiday calendar
Custom can coolers, standard: order by Friday, November 20
Production starts at checkout on the design you confirmed in the designer, and orders deliver in 3–4 weeks. Four weeks from Nov 20 lands on Dec 18.
Custom can coolers, rush: order by Friday, November 27
Tick express production in the cart ($30 for 100–199 pieces, $40 for 200–399, $50 for 400–749, and $60 for 750 or more) and the run is made and delivered in 2–3 weeks; three weeks from Nov 27 lands on Dec 18. No message needed first. Our rush guide explains how it works.
Custom hats: the standard window closed on Friday, September 25
Your free digital mockup arrives within 24 hours of ordering; approve it and we make a sample, and the full run is delivered 6–10 weeks after sample confirmation. Ordering by Sep 25 left two weeks for the mockup, the sample and your approval, so a hat ordered now still goes through every one of those steps and most land in the last two weeks of December or later. Faster hat production exists: if you need hats by Dec 18, email hello@reel48.com before you order and we'll tell you what's possible.
Every window above includes shipping transit. If your team is spread across offices, order to one address and distribute, or ask us about split shipments before you order. That is easier to arrange up front than after production starts.
What to put on them
Can coolers: one logo on the front is the classic; the back is free real estate for a message ("Happy holidays from the whole crew", a website, a phone number). You choose the color and see the live preview in the online designer, and what you approve is what we print. Standard cans and slim cans (seltzers, energy drinks) use different dies, so pick the one your people drink.
Hats: embroidery for wordmarks and simple logos, a PVC or silicone patch for a bold, dimensional look, a woven patch for fine detail. Our hat decoration guide compares all four. Pick one of the 7 numbered styles on the custom hats page; every price break is printed on the style's product page before you add it to the cart.
Budgeting: what a gift run actually costs
Can coolers start at $0.84 per unit at volume with a 100-unit minimum, and shipping is a flat $0.05 per unit shown in the cart. A 100-unit run for a client list is a rounding error on a marketing budget; a 1,000-unit run for an employee event is still cheaper than most catered lunches. The full tier table is in our can cooler pricing post, and resellers and planners should read the bulk pricing math.
Hats have a 50-piece minimum with volume breaks at every step above it. Because every style publishes its ladder, you can price three styles against each other in five minutes without asking anyone, and the free mockup means you see your logo on the exact hat before a single one is made.
How ordering works
- Can coolers: open the designer, pick standard or slim, choose a color, drop in your logo and text, check the live preview, add to cart. Production starts after checkout.
- Hats: pick a style and decoration method on its product page, set the quantity, check out, then reply to your receipt with your logo. Your mockup arrives within 24 hours; approve it, we make the sample, you confirm, and the run ships 6–10 weeks after sample confirmation.
- On a deadline? For can coolers, tick express production in the cart and put your date in the Special instructions box. For hats, say so before you order: one email to hello@reel48.com lets us confirm the timeline while there is still room to adjust it.
Want the step-by-step for hats with real numbers at each stage? It is all in how to order custom hats for your business.
A note on the calendar
The dates above all work back from December 18. If your gifts are for a New Year kickoff instead, add three weeks to every date. If they are for a December 5 client event, subtract two: can coolers by Friday, November 6, or November 13 with express. For hats, either date now means emailing us before you order. The sooner a hat sample is confirmed, the more of the calendar you control.
